Hundreds attend funeral prayers of slain cop, his brother in Budgam

Hundreds attend funeral prayers of slain cop, his brother in Budgam

Anantnag: Hundreds of people on Sunday attended the funeral prayers of two brothers, one of them a Special Police Officer (SPO), shot at and killed by unidentified gunmen late Saturday evening in Budgam district of central Kashmir.
Men, women, and children thronged the house of the slain in huge numbers throughout the day. SPO Ishfaq Ahmad and his brother Umar Jan were fired upon by unidentified gunmen inside their house in Chadbugh village in Budgam district. Ishfaq was posted at the District Police Lines Budgam but was on a one-year leave for a stenography course, family sources said.
“Both of them were preparing for the Sub-Inspector examination that was scheduled to take place on Sunday,” the family source told Kashmir Reader.
The incident took place late Saturday evening when both the brothers were home and were in their room on the first floor of the house when some unidentified gunmen barged in.
“Both the brothers were also involved in making some graphic designs and were working on their laptops, when two people barged into the house and dragged them down from the first floor,” a relative of the family, and an eyewitness to the incident, said.
She said that Ishfaq was shot, multiple times, from point-blank range with a pistol.
“I tried to reason with them but they soon dragged Umar outside the house and shot him as well,” the eyewitness said, adding that Ishfaq succumbed to his injuries on the spot, while Umar died at the hospital later.
“I did ask Umar if he recognized the attackers but he did not,” she said. “He was semi-conscious and told me he did not recognize any of them.”
This morning tens of hundreds reached the village and attended the funeral prayers of the slain brothers. “It has come as a shock and the whole village is in grief,” a local told Kashmir Reader.
Inspector General of Police (IGP), Kashmir, Vijay Kumar was accompanied by the DIG Central Kashmir and SSP Budgam while he visited the family of the slain today. The officials have assured the family that their department stands with them in this time of grief and pain.
There has been an uptick in such attacks in the month of March. At least two Panchayat members and a CRPF personnel have been killed in south and central Kashmir.
Two non-locals have also been injured in similar attacks, here in the Pulwama district of south Kashmir – even as the anti-militancy operations have been intensified across Kashmir valley.
More than 24 militants have been killed in just the first two months of 2022, while officials have been maintaining that the number of active militants has gone down to below 200.

 

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